5.28.2016

Random Thoughts on Various Subjects 13

Brutalism is the architecture of the featureless concrete slab. When it does have features, they are always grotesque. Here is a picture of the old Boston City Hall:

This building is a classic. The only thing wrong with this beautiful old building is that it is too small to serve the needs of a metropolis like Boston. So, the City of Boston built this monstrosity to fit its current needs:

What an eyesore! The new Boston City Hall is the epitome of Brutalism. Brutalist architecture was mainstay for government and university buildings in the 1970's. They were cheap, utilitarian, and honest. They are also universally loathed except by a few trendy art nerds. The buildings are ugly, and no one cares about them. The original link carries you to a story about St. Peter's Seminary that was built in the brutalist style and abandoned after 20 years. No one cries when one of these beasts is abandoned and torn down. Yet, a classic like the Old City Hall of Boston would provoke a riot if people tried to tear it down.

People love beautiful buildings. They are worth the time, money, and effort that it takes to design and build them. The problem is that designers have lost their sense of beauty.

2. ISIS

I am heartened to hear that ISIS is on the ropes and has begun to eat itself as they slaughter defectors and try desperately to get or create funding for itself including harvesting organs from their own fighters to sell on the black market. I say this many times, and I say it again. Evil will eat itself. It always does.3. DRAFTING WOMEN

It says something when this country would stoop so low as to force women to sign up for Selective Service making them available for possibly being drafted into military service. It says even more when you find supporters of this policy in the Pentagon and among otherwise conservative people who still pretend that they are men. For me, I find this idea abhorrent, and any man who supports it is a disgrace to his manhood.

There are two types of men who support this move. The first is the effeminate progressive girly man who is for anything pro-feminist and pro-sodomite or whatever other perversion of society and nature that comes out of the Democrat Party and the pages of Mother Jones. The second are the porn addicted masturbating barbarians who see women as nothing but sex objects and/or domestic servants who have no greater purpose in life than to feed the appetites, needs, and desires of men. It makes sense that these loathsome insults to manliness would see fit to turn women into cannon fodder. One of these fools even told me that he saw drafting women as "payback" for feminism.

The United States of America is bereft of true men.

4. ALONE IN A VAST UNIVERSE

Astronomers tell us that the universe is massive. It defies our comprehension. There are billions and billions of stars out there. Carl Sagan got it right. Yet, in this vastness, we seem to be alone. I could be wrong, but it is my belief that this planet is the only one with life on it. The human race is the only intelligent species in the universe. Now, I can't know this with certainty. It is just what I feel in my gut. I don't believe in aliens. Earth is the only Eden in this vast universe. And we have ruined it.

5. Q & A

Q: Why not vote third party?A: I think about this a great deal as I am no fan of Donald Trump. But it takes me back to my days voting for Libertarian Party candidates. The third party option is a vote to "lessen evil" as opposed to voting for the lesser evil. But this all breaks apart when I ask why we shouldn't vote for a write in candidate and make that write in candidate yourself. You can't ever go wrong with that option because by voting for yourself you are never voting against your principles. You are the perfect candidate for you.

If this seems like nonsense when taken to its logical end, then congratulations! You have reached a point of enlightenment. Now, if everyone voted for themselves, no one would ever get elected. So, one person decides to vote for someone else giving that person a plurality of the vote. Others see the wisdom in this and follow suit. Before you know it, you end up with a two party system like the one we see today. If you vote for anyone other than yourself, you made a compromise somewhere. I will now help you to learn to live with that compromise.

Compromise is a necessity. You must give up something in order to gain something else. For instance, I give up two hours to watch a movie. That time is lost but well spent if the movie is good. If it isn't so good, then I have lost two hours of my life that I can't get back. The goal is to be better off at the end of those two hours than I was at the beginning.

With political candidates, you make a similar trade. You are going to give your vote, public endorsement, money, volunteer time, etc. to a candidate that you hope will make the country, state, or locality better off by the end of their term than at the beginning. This may not pan out for you, but that is the objective. Obviously, things would be better for you if you won the election, but you can't win which is why you never actually vote for yourself. That would be a waste. A candidate with no reasonable chance of winning becomes a waste of your vote. This is why third party people never get above double digits unless they are billionaires with money and personality like Ross Perot. Basically, you need to be either a Democrat or a Republican if you want a chance at winning. Trump got the message and did the hard job of getting through months of primaries and debates.

When you have two candidates, the choice is very simple. Vote for the one that you think will make the country better than what it is now. At the very least, it shouldn't be worse. None will be perfect except for yourself. And what about when you think the country will be worse regardless of who wins? Once again, you have to pick the one who would do lesser damage than the other. Yes, those choices are made with fingers pinching the nose, but we do this all the time when buying products, picking jobs, choosing schools, etc. This world is not heaven.

I respect people who choose not to vote. Sometimes, voting for such despicable choices is not worth the taint that comes with voting for them. If there was an election of Hitler vs. Stalin, you would have to go with Hitler because he had a lower body count. But I find it understandable when people choose to just not vote. Not voting is essentially voting for yourself. I respect that. By not voting, you achieve the same end as voting third party. You get to keep your integrity and make zero difference in the world.

6. ODDS AND ENDS

--If you are more Catholic than the pope, it would help your case to not be seen strolling about with a concubine half your age.

--I would love to see a Trump/Sanders debate. They should get paid and donate the proceeds to a charity helping working people and/or vets.

--It should be a felony for desecrating a war memorial with graffiti.

--Ginsburg calls for 9, but I think she fears 7. She could drop at any moment.

--The military's new railgun is a gamechanger. In 30 years, they will have a version that is full auto and will rain devastation. Good-bye, heirs to ISIS.

--New Motorola RAZR rumors and excitement should be a clue to Lenovo to make good on the now debunked rumors. People want flip phones. They just want them to do smartphone things.

7. QUOTABLE QUOTES

Seek only Him. Do not try to use Him as a means to seek any other end. He is not your Santa, he is your Savior.--Peter Kreeft

To remain indifferent to good fortune or to adversity by accepting it all from the hand of God without questioning, not to ask for things to be done as we would like them but as God wishes, to make the intention of all our prayers that God's will should be perfectly accomplished in ourselves and in all creatures is to find the secret of happiness and content.--Fr. Jean Baptiste Saint-Jure

Nothing else can ever cure our sick world except saints, and saints are never made except by prayer.--Peter Kreeft

You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.--St. Athanasius

Never affirm anything unless you are sure it is true.--St. Teresa of Avila

All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of men; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God for man.--St. John Vianney

When you look at the Crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you then. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now.--Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta